The irony of 'investigation' & AFSPA
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 22, 2022 -

Is there anything more to investigate or observe? Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni's assertion that the infamous Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 would be removed only after a thorough investigation and observation sounds rather arrogant and insensitive.

The same statement also reeks of a military-centric perspective of statecraft where there is little room for human rights and civil liberties.

Way back in 2004, the then UPA Government set up the Jeevan Reddy Committee to investigate how the AFSPA was operating and the committee categorically pointed out that the law was 'highly undesirable'.

An administrative Reform Commission set up in 2008 endorsed the same observation of the Jeevan Reddy Committee.

The Santosh Hegde Committee set up by the Supreme Court investigated six encounter cases in Manipur and found all of them to be fake.

But all the military personnel who staged these fake encounters and hundreds of other such cases are still enjoying iron-clad legal protection, guaranteed by AFSPA.

What is there to investigate when how AFSPA has been misused and abused over the decades is known to everyone?

The constitutionality of AFSPA which has its legacy in the British colonial era has been questioned many times at the United Nations and many other international forums but the Government of India sees no fault in enforcing the Act in some selected territories of the country.

The Armed Forces Special Powers Ordinance 1942 from which AFSPA was derived was first promulgated by the British on 15 August 1942 to suppress the Quit India Movement.

The Government of India promulgated the Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Ordinance 1958 on May 22, 1958.

It was replaced by Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958 on September 11, 1958.

Not long after, it was renamed as the 'Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958'.

Insurgent activities and violence are the two fundamental premises which determine whether a particular area should be categorised as 'disturbed' or not.

But the very concept of 'disturbed' is not something unambiguous, and we fear its fundamental concepts and understandings are twisted and even distorted to suit the State's interest.

People in this part of the world where AFSPA is being imposed for decades are either subhumans or living dead, a human rights activist once lamented.

Presenting her report before the 26th session of the UN Human Rights Council held at Geneva on June 12, 2014, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women Rashida Manjoo, who visited Manipur the previous year, recommended that AFSPA, 1958 should be repealed as a matter of urgency.

However, the Government' of India's delegation argued mainly with the operational need of the Army, saying that in some areas it would be necessary to protect armed forces in order to be effective, although there should be no misuse of AFSPA in Manipur.

However, there ha,ve been countless instances of gross abuse of the infamous Act. Somebody once commented that people are all living dead where AFSPA is in force as even non-commissioned military personnel can shoot to kill a citizen on mere suspicion.

At the same time, the State has been employing different yard sticks in different parts of the country for invoking the dreaded AFSPA.

Lack of consistency and uniformity when it comes to giving sweeping powers to the military smack of racism and discrimination.

This is what is informed by the much softer subjective treatment of Naxalism as opposed to the free hand given to the military in Kashmir and the North East.

One fundamental question arises here, why Kashmir and the North East can't be spared from AFSPA if the same infamous Act is not necessary in tackling the country's biggest threat (Naxal movement).

The Government of India's assertion to first investigate and observe the law before it is removed despite the ever mounting cases of gross human rights violation is akin to rubbing salt to wound.